


Twins

by drarrymehome



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Has a Sibling, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24128512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drarrymehome/pseuds/drarrymehome
Summary: Harry is home from an Auror mission. Unfortunately, he left someone important behind and Draco isn't happy about it.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 124





	Twins

“I can’t believe you let this happen!” Harry watches Draco pace up and down the living room in agitation. He feels truly terrible for putting Draco in this position, but he absolutely didn’t do it on purpose.

“I didn’t _let_ it happen; it just did! It was a complete accident!” He protests. Draco pauses his pacing long enough to glare at Harry like he just told him he kicked a puppy. If only Hermione still had her time turner, he would have gone back an hour and prevented the whole thing from happening.

“He could be anywhere right now. He could be dead!” Draco screeches. This isn’t the first time Harry has been in this position, but it’s certainly the worst time. It’s three in the morning and he has had to drag Draco out of bed to make him aware of the situation. There’s only one lamp lit in the room and it does nothing to help the state Draco’s in. His hair is sticking up on one side, there are deep circles under his eyes, and the shirt he was sleeping in is hanging off one shoulder. Actually, now that Harry is looking…

“Is that my old Quidditch jersey?”

Draco stares at him in utter disbelief. “Are you kidding me?! My twin is out there somewhere, _abandoned_ by you, and you want to talk about my pyjamas?! Do you have any concept of how serious this is?” Draco is absolutely furious and Harry kicks himself for being so insensitive. He sits precariously on the edge of Draco’s sofa as the pacing is making him feel rather sick. He’s just come off an twelve-hour shift and he came here first rather than going home and showering. This was probably the wrong choice as it would have spared Draco an extra hour or so of worry, especially considering there was absolutely nothing he could do.

“I’m sorry, that was a dumb thing to say. But you know, he only missed the portkey. It’s not like he was in any danger when I-”

“When you bloody well left without him! Honestly Potter, being partnered with you is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. And he actually has the audacity to say you’re the best auror in the department. I swear if he’s dead I’ll kill him.” Harry avoids pointing out the flaw in that logic.

Harry tries valiantly to reason with Draco. “Draco stop, please. You’re making me feel sick with all this to-ing and fro-ing. Please sit down. Pacing like that isn’t going to bring him home any sooner.”

“You have no idea what this is like.” Draco hisses at him. Harry doesn’t like the tone at all, but Draco stops his pacing to come right up in Harry’s face. “You’re an only child. You have no concept of what it’s like to have your heart living outside of your body. Because that’s what it’s like you know, having a twin.”

Harry has never heard Draco talk this way. It’s not as if he doesn’t have feelings per se, it’s just that the Malfoy family as a whole isn’t especially expressive. In fact, for the first six months Harry was partnered with Draco’s twin Orion, he was convinced the guy didn’t like him at all. Then he found out Orion actually volunteered Harry’s name for promotion, even though it would split their partnership up. Slytherins. They’re impossible.

“Come here,” Harry says in the gentlest voice he can muster. There’s a pause while Draco acknowledges the change in tone. It’s easy to see the emotions flit across his face now that Harry is attuned to him. Mainly he can see that he’s trying to hold onto his anger towards Harry, but that anger is fighting against his need for reassurance, which he also gets from Harry.

The moment he gives in is obvious because Draco’s tense shoulders drop. “Fine,” he mutters, flopping down dramatically on the sofa and resting his head in Harry’s lap. Looking down at Draco, he can see there are light tear tracks down his face, and Harry’s stomach clenches with guilt and worry.

He cards his fingers through Draco’s messy hair. It always calms him down when Harry does this, although he’s not sure anything he does will be enough this time.

“You’re right,” he says when Draco seems calm enough, “I have no idea what it’s like. But I know Orion loves you and he’ll be doing everything he can to get back home.” There’s not much Harry can do for Draco, but he wishes there was.

Draco looks up at him with wide eyes and a trembling lip. It nearly breaks Harry’s heart.

“You know I’ve never taken a single breath without him?” He says in a small voice. Harry feels as though all the breath has been sucked out of his body. He’s never thought about it that way. “Orion is four and a half minutes older than me, so technically I’ve never known life without him.” It’s a rather dramatic statement considering the mission was over and Orion had simply missed their portkey home, but the principle is harrowing, nonetheless. Harry’s sure he would be a wreck too if he’d shared his whole life with one person that way.

“And you won’t know life without him for a very long time,” Harry reassured him, “if at all!” He quickly amends as an afterthought.

They sit quietly like that for a while. Draco doesn’t shed any more tears, but Harry still feels helpless. It hurts that no matter how much he loves Draco, nothing he is or can be will ever fill the space of his twin. Draco takes hold of Harry’s hand, the one that isn’t in Draco’s hair, and starts playing with Harry’s fingers. It’s something Harry has noticed he does when he’s nervous.

At least a half hour goes by with them sitting quietly like this. Harry’s eyes are raw with tiredness and he aches from head to toe, but he knows he won’t leave, and he won’t sleep until he's sure everything is ok. Draco is slowly drifting off in Harry’s lap and he’s relieved that for a little while he might be spared some worrying.

At quarter past four in the morning, the front door rattles open and even though Draco was sound asleep, he’s up like a shot. He flies past Harry in a blur of blond hair and is accosting his twin before he even has time to shut the door behind him. Words cannot describe how relieved Harry is when he sees the two twins reunited, even if it’s only been a few hours.

“You. Stupid. Fucking. Idiot. How. Could you. Do this. To me?” Harry does his best to hold back laughter as Draco smacks Orion with his slipper. They look so similar that it’s almost like watching Draco fight his own reflection. The twins are often mistaken for each other, although Harry now finds it easy to tell them apart. It would be pretty awkward if he accidently made out with his auror partner instead of his boyfriend. Not that that has happened.

Orion looks at Harry over Draco’s shoulder once he’s finally got too tired and dropped the slipper on the floor. “We really should tell Robards that paperclips are the worst portkeys possible. How the heck was I supposed to see it anyway?”

“Paperclip?” Harry asks in confusion. “The portkey was a marble…”

Orion’s eyes widen. “Oh. _Oh_.”


End file.
